X-Message-Number: 30465
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:48:02 -0700
From: hkhenson <>
Subject: Re: A challenge and request to Alcor's Board 
References: <>

At 03:00 AM 2/13/2008, Finance Department wrote:

>Alcor member awareness is the biggest obstacle to board reform.

Not at all.  What you are calling "reform" is.  You forget that 
Alcor's main responsibility is to the patients.  Alcor isn't the only 
provider, the living can go elsewhere if they are dissatisfied.  The 
frozen cannot.

>I wonder how many Alcor members actually read the cryonics-related forums,
>and I bet it is less than 10 or 15 percent of them.  If so there is a huge
>number of Alcor members unreached by the issue and idea that ordinary Alcor
>members should have voting rights for who is on its board of directors.
>This is totally unfair to those who are trying to present what they believe
>to be needed changes.

I doubt it's even 10 percent, but you could ask Kevin Brown.

One thing the "reformers" i.e., those trying to force your way into 
power, miss is that "members," are not like members of a social 
club.  It isn't really the right word.  The considerable majority of 
the people signed up with Alcor want to be *customers.*  They want 
the service they contracted for in the unhappy event they need 
it.  Mostly they want a stable operation, not one that's being kicked 
around by internal political fights.

Now it's true a lot of them are dedicated customers.  When a new 
disaster falls in on Alcor, which just has to be expected, then you 
can count on them to wade in with effort and checkbooks.  But they 
don't want to be bothered otherwise.

>A simple solution to this would be if Alcor would permit a message such as
>from Dave Pizer conveying that idea and the reasons for it, accompanied if
>they wish by a statement of their own, to be sent by them to all Alcor
>members by postal mail, without divulging to the public the identities of
>the members.

Mostly this would irritate the customers.  I remember getting a phone 
call from one of them back in the previous fight, the one that worked 
up a bunch of misinformed people to leave and found CryoCare.  This 
guy was in Canada, one of the provinces right out in the middle.  He 
was asking me what in the heck was going on after he got a huge 
package from the previous dissidents.  I explained and he was more 
bemused than concerned.

>In order for this to happen, Alcor would have to be willing, unless of
>course ordered by a court and we all hope it doesn't have to go there.

Now we have legal threats.  All of a sudden who you are in real life 
becomes interesting.  Are you signed up with Alcor?

snip

>This would correct the problem from the Alcor conference I believe in N.
>Calif., in which it was reported that a board member got up in a meeting and
>asked for a straw vote of the persons present, which consisted mainly of
>Alcor employees, board members, advisors,  and other parties who would not
>possibly risk their reputations by challenging the Board's position, and
>which naturally got almost unanimous "against" votes.  Can we all agree that
>having been done is a little silly?

That must have been the meeting Feb. 14, 1993.  I was the board 
member who asked for the straw vote.  That was before advisors.  The 
vote was against splitting up Alcor and changing the bylaws and to 
some extent it was a vote of confidence in Steve Bridge who spoke at 
the meeting.  There were at least 20 local Alcor members and at most 
two or three from headquarters.

The split that happened later that year took place almost entirely on 
the basis of being close to Mike Darwin.  I believe there was only 
one person in the Northern California group that left Alcor for CryoCare.

>C'mon Alcor Board - show us you are fair and open.  I encourage everyone to
>copy and forward this challenge to every board member.
>
>If Dave Pizer needs to formally request this of the board, I think that
>should be done to kick it off.

I hope he has better sense.

Think hard about this:  Is there anything besides getting yourselves 
into power that motivates you?  Is there anything *specific* that you 
think has to be done for the long term survival of the patients that 
the board has rejected?  If there is and it makes sense I might help.

Keith

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